The present invention is an improvement on the traction cleat disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,723,366, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. That cleat includes a metal stud infrastructure having a vertical axis and two ends, a stem portion at a first end for engagement with a receptacle in the shoe, a head portion at a second end for tractive engagement with the ground, and a broad frusto-conical flange between the stem and head portions and extending radially outward from the vertical axis. A plastic skirt is molded directly upon the flange portion of the metal infrastructure, the resultant unitary skirt and flange forming the reinforced radial support member of the cleat. Two wrench holes remain in the radial support member for engagement with a special insertion and removal wrench.
Other cleat designs in the prior art require sufficient affixation of an all-plastic flange to an all-metal column (i.e., stem and head portions) to tolerate torque applied in insertion and removal of the cleat, axial forces exerted in use, and continual flexing of the support member relative to the rigid column. Although the cleat design of U. S. Pat. No. 4,723,366 eliminated this affixation challenge, it, like those other cleats with plastic flanges, lacks a sufficiently rigid metal surface for optimal engagement of the finger pins of the insertion and removal wrench with the sides of the wrench holes to transmit torque for insertion or removal of the cleat. The metal surface of the flange of the cleat in U.S. Pat. No. 4,723,366 is too far from the head-side surface of the support member to provide optimal engagement with the wrench pins.